Samsung achieves highest DRAM market share in Q3 - study

South Korea's Samsung Electronics in the third quarter managed to rise above challenging conditions in the DRAM business to achieve an all-time record-high market share, according to a study by IHS iSuppli. Samsung expanded its share by 3.5 percent points to garner a 45 percent slice of DRAM market revenue in the third quarter, the highest portion of the market that the company has ever taken on a quarterly basis. While Samsung's DRAM revenue declined by 8.9 percent from the second quarter, the company still outperformed the industry as a whole, allowing it to expand its lead over the other suppliers. Samsung's ASP fell 17 percent during the quarter, while its shipments increased 9 percent, enabling it to outperform the industry. Samsung's share of DRAM market revenue has been rising steadily, growing from 28 percent in 2007 to 30 percent in 2008, to 34 percent in 2009 and 37 percent in 2010. The 26 percent ASP decrease for the overall DRAM market in the third quarter from an average quarterly decline of 2 percent. The extraordinarily weak pricing caused DRAM industry revenue in the third quarter to decline by 15.8 percent to USD 6.8 billion, down from USD 8.1 billion in the second quarter. Micron's revenue declined by only 3.8 percent sequentially in the third quarter. As a result, the company's share of market revenue increased to 12.1 percent, up from 10.6 percent in the second quarter. Japan's Elpida Memory saw its share decline to 12.1 percent, down from 14.6 percent, on revenue of USD 823 million. Elpida's shipments were up 16 percent in the third quarter, but its ASP plummeted a steep 39 percent. South Korea's Hynix Semiconductor suffered a loss of market share in the third quarter. With revenue of USD 1.5 billion, Hynix had 21.5 percent share, down from 23.4 percent. The company's ASP fell faster than the industry average, sinking 29 percent during the period. Taiwan's Nanya Technology saw its market share decrease to 3.6 percent market share from 4.7 percent. This drop was driven by the supplier's weak ASP, which fell 32 percent. Nanya's shipment growth of 7 percent also was slightly lower than the industry average of 13 percent. Taiwan-based companies Winbond Electronics secured sixth place, ProMOS Technologies down to less than 1 percent share in seventh place and Powerchip Technology rebounding after not shipping any branded DRAM in the second quarter, in eighth.